In the food and beverage industry, machines for holding, cooling and dispensing non-carbonated beverages have been in wide and common use for many years. The most common and most widely used type or class of beverage dispensing machines of the general character referred to above is that class of machine which includes a box-like housing adapted to be engaged and supported on a counter top or the like, atop which a clear or transparent beverage holding tank is supported and in which elements and/or parts of refrigeration units, circulating pump means and dispensing valve means are housed. In such machines, the holding tanks have open tops which are normally closed by suitable removable covers of clear plastic. The circulating pump means operate to draw beverage from the bottoms of the tanks and include return pipes or the like to conduct the beverage to the tops of the tanks so that they can flow down and about the interior surfaces of the tanks for aesthetic purposes and to keep the beverage mixed. The refrigeration units in machines of the class here concerned with commonly include compressor and condensing means within the housings and evaporator coils which project upwardly from the housing into the tanks to effectively chill the beverage in the tanks. The dispensing valve means commonly include simple on and off valves arranged within the housings. The inlet sides of the valves are suitably connected with the bottom of the holding tanks and the outlet sides are connected with suitable dispensing tubes which extend to a convenient location at the exterior of the housing for directing beverage into drinking cups or glasses. Finally, the valve means commonly include manually operable operating levers for the valves accessible at the exterior of the housing. The discharge ends of the outlet tube normally occur in spaced relationship above glass supporting catch basins at the lower front sides of the housings and the operating levers normally include bar-like parts at the fronts of the housings, spaced rearward of and below the dispensing tubes where they can be engaged to open their related valves by glasses or the like manually advanced into beverage receiving position below the tubes.
The principal shortcoming to be found in the above noted class of beverage dispensing machine resides in the fact that the supplies of beverage in the holding tanks must be periodically replenished. Such replenishing of the supply of beverage is ordinarily accomplished by removing the covers from the tanks and pouring measured amounts of water and of beverage concentrate into the open tops of the tanks as by means of water pitchers, mixing cups and the like. Such an operation is not only awkward and difficult, especially for persons with limited height, reach and/or poor coordination, it is also an unpleasant and oftentimes disagreeable operation for patrons of the establishments in which the machines are used to witness.
As a result of the above, it is common practice for the operators of such machines to avoid replenishing the supply of beverage in the holding tanks of such machines until it is absolutely necessary.
The above practice of waiting to replenish the supply of beverage in the holding tanks of the above noted class of beverage dispensing machine brings about an added adverse effect. That effect is the inability of the machine to effectively and adequately cool or chill large, unchilled volumes of newly introduced beverage instantly or even in a modestly short period of time. As a result, after the supply of beverage in such machines has been let to diminish substantially and has been replenished with a substantial period of time must be let to pass to enable the refrigeration unit to chill the beverage and before adequately chilled beverage can again be dispensed.
Another shortcoming found in the operation and use of the above noted class of machine resides in the fact that the required hand-measuring of the water and beverage concentrates is oftentimes improperly carried out. It is not infrequent that insufficient or excessive volumes of concentrate will be used in establishing new batches of beverage, with the result that the beverages are too weak or too strong. The use of insufficient volumes of concentrate and the dispensing and sale of weak beverage results in disappointed customers and a potential loss of trade for the operator, while the use of excessive volumes of beverage concentrate and the dispensing and sale of beverage which is too strong most generally results in the loss of profits for the operators of such machines.
As a result of the foregoing, there has been a long existing need and want for a simple, practical and effective means for automatically, intermittently mixing small measured volumes of water and liquid beverage concentrate and delivering the mixture directly into the holding tanks of beverage dispensing machines of the character referred to above to maintain a full and ready supply of beverage at all times.
A further want and need exists for a means of the general character referred to above which operates to conduct both water and beverage from remote, obscure sources directly into the holding tank of such machines without the need to remove the covers from the holding tanks.
Still further, there exists a want and need for a means of the general character referred to above which is such that small volumes of water and beverage concentrate can be mixed and introduced into the holding tanks of the dispensing machines at frequent intervals and as circumstances require whereby the volumes of unchilled liquids or beverage added to the tank at any one time is insufficient to warm or remove the chill from the previously established supply of beverage in the holding tanks.